Nearly 12,000 people march in Strasbourg in support of protests in Iran
Nearly 12,000 demonstrators gathered in Strasbourg this Monday, January 16, 2023. AP - Jean-Francois Badias
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About 12,000 people according to the police, from all over Europe, demonstrated this Monday in Strasbourg to ask the European Union to include the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of Tehran, on the blacklist of " terrorist organizations”.
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The procession, submerged in Iranian flags, set off in the early afternoon towards the European Parliament where the monthly plenary session of MEPs began on Monday.
“
We are coming together to make Iranian women and men heard in Europe and to ask the European Parliament to continue to be on the right side of history
,” centrist member of the Swedish Parliament Alireza Akhondi told AFP. , organizer of the event.
"
Without Europe's help, without us to be their voice, there will be no revolution in Iran
," he added.
The demonstrators were mainly Iranians from all over Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and especially Germany, reports our special correspondent on the spot,
Wyloen Munhoz-Boillot
.
Some arrived on Sunday in buses chartered especially for the occasion, others had to decide to take their car or organized carpooling, because all the trains for Strasbourg were full due to the strong mobilization of the Iranian diaspora. in Europe.
Resumption of the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom!
»
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests against power since the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died three days after being arrested in Tehran by the morality police for having badly worn the Islamic veil.
Several people have been
sentenced to death and executed
in connection with the protests.
Their faces and names were displayed on placards held by demonstrators who repeatedly proclaimed the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom!"
is the rallying cry of the crowds currently protesting in Iran.
The President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola spoke as the procession arrived in front of the institution's headquarters, assuring the demonstrators that the MEPs were "
with them
".
"
We will urge the international community to respond forcefully to the terror that has been unleashed by the regime on the people on the streets of Iran
," she said.
►
To read also: EU: "The registration of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity could lead to their isolation"
(
With
AFP)
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